


Imprinting

by kenmarlenn



Category: Gravity Falls
Genre: Because what else would they do, Dipper and Mabel adopt a baby monster, Gen, Pre-Weirdmageddon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-07-12
Updated: 2017-07-12
Packaged: 2018-12-01 08:24:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11482461
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kenmarlenn/pseuds/kenmarlenn
Summary: While monster hunting one day, Dipper and Mabel come across a big rock. Except it's not a rock. And now they have to deal with what's inside.





	Imprinting

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: (A Gf one this time) PreWeirdmegetton: A baby monster imprints on both Mable and Dipper, Male wants to raise it Dipper wants to help Ford study, also this baby is the half the size of the shack.
> 
> I really liked this prompt, so odds are this'll have more chapters if people are interested. Let me know!

It was Dipper who first heard the _crack_ ing sound. 

They’d taken a break from monster hunting in the woods to have lunch. Toby had announced on the radio that it was another scorcher that day, but the twins had decided that they could handle the heat if they stayed in the shadowy woods. Dipper had brought a PB&J, and Mabel had slapped together some sort of deli sandwich from ingredients in Stan’s kitchen that they weren’t sure were edible. The twins were leaning against a gigantic rock they had found, that Mabel had noticed because it was remarkably smooth and ovoid. 

“Mabel,” Dipper said, freezing with his sandwich halfway to his mouth. He felt the rock… move a little behind him, rocking a bit to the left and right. “What are we leaning against.”

Mabel shrugged. “A rock.” Unconcerned, she continued to nibble on her own sandwich. Her sweater of the day depicted a gryphon, which she’d been looking forward to finding. Stan had pointed out before they left that she had already seen a gryphon, but Mabel retorted that it had been a construct summoned from another dimension by an evil math wizard, and that it didn’t count. Their grunkle didn’t have enough energy to dispute her further. Instead he simply told them to get back before dinner.

Dipper was worried they might find that gryphon. And get eaten. Or they might get killed by whatever was going on behind them first. Cautiously, he turned and, after some hesitation, rapped lightly on the rock.

To his surprise, it didn’t hurt much, and instead of a _thunk thunk_ , he heard a _thonk thonk_. Big difference. Like when he’d tapped on the wall in the Shack and found a secret room behind that section instead of normal wall. Then the cracking stopped, and Dipper jerked his hand back. Mabel, by now, had put her sandwich and thermos of Mabel Juice back in her backpack and was watching him curiously.

 _Tap tap._ The rock made a noise, mimicking Dipper’s rapping. It sounded like it was coming from inside the rock.

Mabel and Dipper turned to each other slowly, Mabel with a huge grin on her face and Dipper with a more reserved, confused look. 

“Not a rock,” Mabel said definitively. 

_Tap tap,_ said the not-rock again. Then, right where Dipper had rapped on it, a large _CRACK_ sounded out and several shards of sharp grey material shot out from the spot. There was hole now, leaking some gross looking clear liquid, with a huge claw poking out, the size of Dipper’s forearm. 

The twins shouted in alarm and stood quickly, rushing backwards. The claw wiggled, then withdrew and more cracks led to the hole growing larger. From their new vantage point and context clues, Dipper came to the same conclusion. 

“Yeah, nope, not a rock. Definitely not a rock,” he said nervously. “It looks more like an…”

“Egg!” Mabel shrieked. “Something big with claws! Maybe it’s a gryphon!”

“Maybe it’ll think we’re supposed to be its first meal, Mabel. We should keep a safe distance away.”

Mabel pouted, but nodded. She skipped back over to the egg, snatched up their backpacks, and blew a kiss towards the two talons that were now poking through the hole. She handed Dipper his, and he grimaced as he noticed the egg white coming from the egg had soaked through the bottom of it.

 

* * *

Eventually, the creature looked like it was going to come out soon. It had meticulously gone around the whole egg and poked holes in the shell, until it looked like the end of the egg would fall off with a tiny push. Against his better judgement, the stillness of the forest and the summer heat made Dipper fall asleep resting against a tree. 

He was awoken by a loud _crrrrACK_ and a shrill squeal from Mabel. A tug on his arm nearly made him lose his balance and fall over, still half asleep, but Mabel simply pulled more and dragged Dipper to his feet.

Before them lay the shattered remains of the egg, gross liquid soaking the ground around it, and Mabel wrinkled her nose, noticing that the air smelled faintly of sulfur. But what drew the twins’ eyes was the big, blue, scaly creature curled up on the ground beside the egg. Its back rose and fell as it took heavy, labored breaths. As the twins stayed frozen, watching, it slowly stretched out wings soaked with fluid and flexed them gently. Eventually its wings had spread out completely, and Dipper noted that its wingspan was the size of the clearing.

“That’s not a gryphon, Mabel,” Dipper said. Fear and adrenaline had woken him fully, and he was backing away quickly towards the relative safety of the trees. Unfortunately, Mabel still had a strong grip on his arm, and wasn’t letting go. “Mabes, we need to go, that’s a-”

“Baby dragon!” his sister squealed, and rushed forward, dragging Dipper along despite his protests. 

Its eyes, black slits in golden sclerae, were rapidly switching focus, first on the trees, then on an owl flying from a nearby branch, then on the wildflowers growing in the grass in front of it. As the twins grew closer, it snorted in a surprise, a tiny puff of smoke coming from its nostrils, and its eyes snapped up to focus on them. Slowly it stood, a bit shakily, and took a few wobbling steps towards them. Mabel stopped moving forward herself, her excitement finally giving way to some form of caution.  
The dragon stopped right in front of them. The twins stood stock still, looking up at the creature. It, in turn, tilted its head as it stared at them. Slowly, it leaned its neck down, and Dipper had to fight to stay still. Dragons had sharp teeth, right? Even as a baby, its claws looked wicked sharp, so the teeth would be similar. They were so dead. He’d never gotten to bring out his journal to write at least something down about this thing, and now they’d be eaten by it.

_SnnnNIIIFFF._

The smell of sulfur grew overpowering, but instead of the sensation of teeth digging into his flesh, Dipper felt the air around his body get sucked towards the dragon for a second. He blinked in surprise, and watched as the dragon turned a little to the side and gave his sister a big _SNIFF_ as well. 

The dragon tilted its head again, then made a low rumbling sound that sounded… happy? It plodded a step or two forward until the twins could each touch one of its front legs, then abruptly plopped down onto the ground and lay there. It continued to make the happy sound, and looked at Mabel with eyes that made her want to melt into a puddle right there. She hesitantly reached out and patted its snout, and the rumbling grew louder and its eyes closed slowly. 

“Awwwww!” Mabel said, and seemed to abandon what little caution she had gained and hugged the creature’s neck with all her might. “You’re so cuuuuute~!” The dragon’s rumbling changed pitch, becoming higher to imitate Mabel’s squeals. “It likes us!”

Dipper let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding, and carefully moved to touch the dragon as well. He’d read about dragons in books all the time, he knew legends and stories (some corroborating, some conflicting) about them, but he’d never imagined he’d meet one in real life. Of course, he was surprised he hadn’t even thought there’d be a chance, especially after meeting unicorns. 

“Hey, Dip Dop,” Mabel said suddenly. She still had her arms wrapped tightly around the dragon’s neck, but now she looked concerned. “Where’s its mom?”

“Oh, no,” Dipper said, and quickly looked up and scanned the sky for smoke or a flying figure. “What’ll we do now?! If that’s a baby, a mother dragon would be huge-!”

“Calm down, Dipper. Does this clearing look like a dragon’s cave to you? The mountain is ages away.”

“I don’t know! We haven’t dealt with dragons!”

“I think it’s a lost baby,” Mabel said, planting a gentle kiss on the dragon’s head. “We should bring it back to the Shack!”

Dipper nodded. “Ford can help. He’ll know how to get it to its mother, or get it… out, I don’t know. Plus he’ll want to have a look at it. He never wrote about dragons in the journal, so I’m sure he’ll be thrilled to take notes on one!”

“Wait,” Mabel said, and let go of the dragon, placing on hand protectively on its neck. “No, no, we’re not just gonna bring an orphaned baby dragon home to study it.”

“Okay, well, we’re not sure it’s orphaned, really - !”

“We’re going to raise it.”

Dipper had to take a moment to register that. Then he looked at his sister’s face. She had that Look. The Look that meant she was going to get her way no matter what it took. He sighed. “Okay. Listen. We can’t raise a dragon. It’ll be hard to hide it as a baby let alone an adult.” He tugged on his shirt collar, “Even though having a pet dragon would be really, really cool.” Mabel’s face lit up and he coughed, trying to keep his poker face. “But how about, instead, we take care of it until Ford can help us find its mom, and he can take notes on it while we care for it.”

“Deal,” Mabel said, and reached over the dragon to extend a hand.

Dipper shook it, then patted the dragon’s head. “Hey buddy,” he said, “let’s get you to our house, okay?”


End file.
